Appropriately Underwhelming
by ShadowTiger93
Summary: Winter and Ruby meeting in the courtyard. Continuation of their first meeting in Vol. 3 Eps. 9.


Appropriately Underwhelming

Winter Schnee was boiling. Her eyes narrowed in anger over the embarrassment she went through over the last couple of minutes. First, having that man, this insufferable piece of – _oh now it' s just the anger talking, calm down, you're a Schnee..._ any ways, having that man challenging her in the courtyard, insulting her in front of her sister. Then being caught by the General in the act of letting herself getting provoked by these insults and lastly being scolded for her actions not only by her boss, but also by that other, older blonde woman, _Glynda, I think's her name..._ and being sent away from the discussion with a cheeky wink from that man after her. Yes, her day was perfectly great, all gumdrops and ice cream, most surely.

As she paced out of the tower furiously, not running, mind you, a Schnee does not run away, just tactically retreat, she almost managed to overlook the small, red hooded figure wandering the courtyard aimlessly. She instantly recognized the girl as her sister's team leader, and a tiny smirk managed to sneak its way into her face as she approached the other girl with slow steps.

"Greetings again, Ruby Rose..." At the sound of her calm, collected voice, the younger girl gave a startled _eep_ as she turned around to look up at the older one, her red headphones now visible under her cloak. "H-hello m-ma'am..." Ruby stuttered out, obviously embarrassed being caught so carelessly, caused the older woman to chuckle lightly, an amused glint in her pale blue eyes.

"No need to address me that formally, Ruby Rose. Actually, I wanted the chance to talk to you for a bit, if you don't mind?"

Minutes later one could see the both women, one clad in red, the other one clad in military white attire, sitting in a rather secluded place in the courtyard, sheltered from the public eye. Ruby was seemingly nervous, of course it's not everyday business that the older sister of ones partner wanted to talk to someone, seemingly out of the blue no less. Winter, on the other hand, was cool, collected and regarded the younger one still with that amused glint in her eyes, but decided to break the silence after a few more heartbeats "I wanted to thank you again, Ruby, for taking an interest in my little sister" The way she said these words, Ruby could sense the love and affection within the older Schnee for her own partner and admittedly best friend, Weiss.

In this regard, Winter resembled her own sister Yang in more than a few ways. After realizing this much, she finally could look up at the other woman, getting rid of her social awkwardness "Of course, she's my partner and my friend. I like her pretty much, actually" Her silver eyes laid upon the older Schnee solemnly, making the older woman wonder how such an awkward girl could muster up such an expression "Of course we had our fair share of fights, I mean until she accepted me as her leader and all, took quite a bit, you know..." at this point, Ruby rubbed her neck and chuckled sheepishly. "I mean, first expression probably wasn't the best, causing a load of Dust to literally explode in her face, lots of Fire. And I think some Ice? How does these two things even mix...?" Her rambling was interrupted by an amused laugh from Winter "You...exploded Dust in her face? Guess she didn't take that very well, hu?" Winter shook her head amusedly as she saw the younger girl doing the same, in her case a flush of embarrassment dusting her face. Somehow, she could see why her sister opened up so much to that girl. It was kind of difficult to get away from that endearing personality even for her who only knew that girl for about an hour tops. It wasn't hard to see how Ruby could break through her sister's shell, making her open up to new people.

"You know..." Winter began, looking up her sister's team leader and friend "It's been a long time I've seen Weiss like that, smiling with real warmth if it wasn't directed towards me. I can see she's content and happy around you and the people here at Beacon, much more than she could be in Atlas." A long, kind of sad sigh escaped her lips as she continued to speak in a low, gentle voice, her eyes fixated on a distant past " As you surely already know, we both had a rough childhood, with all the White Fang activities going on, and our father's demanding that one day one of us should take over the company when the time comes. I got away a few years ago, joining the Military, but that just made it worse for my sister... I feel guilty for leaving her alone, but I couldn't stand being in that household any longer, you know?" As Winter looked up, she was met by a pair of silver eyes, shining with earnest, wiping her concerns away like mist in the morning sun.

"Don't worry about leaving Weiss back then. She doesn't hold any grudge against you, that's for sure. I've barely seen her smile like when she saw your ship on the sky. She loves you, there's no point denying that fact, honest. And I know for a fact, that you feel the same about her, you're her sister after all" At this point, Ruby laid a warm, small hand over the slender, slightly cooler fingers of the woman in front of her, smiling warmly.

Winter could do nothing more than stare at the younger girl in wonderment for a moment, before a small, happy grin graced her face again "Truly, you're such an appropriately underwhelming leader and friend for my little sister. Underwhelming in the means of my family and Father, at least. But I think you're just the kind of person my sister needed to break out of her shell again. You and your team. Please take care of her from now on, Ruby. Will you do me this favour?"

Her words were met with a light chuckle and a smile from the brunette, easily lifting her own mood once more "Of course, we're a team. And honestly, she's the best team mate I could ask for. I know I'm not the only one breaking her out of her shell, she kinda did the same with me too..." with this, Ruby stood up, extending a hand towards the older Schnee "I'll promise we, as a team, take care of her, so don't worry, ok?" Winter took the hand in her own, shook it gently with a slight squeeze, smiled brilliantly for the first time since the both of them set down "Thank you so much, that means a lot to me. And please, call me Winter."

With that, the both of them stood up to leave the secluded area, Winter to meet up with Weiss and Ruby to wait for her team mate at their dorm room, both with warm smiles on their faces.

AN: So this is just a tiny little story I want to whip out real fast, kinda my thoughts on a certain encounter. Have fun with my first instalment here, leave your thoughts as a comments or write me a PN, if you like it :)

PS: Thanks to Dongyrn, for motivating me to try and write again after such a long time, thanks my friend.


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